Taiyō no Michi (太陽の道)
by iPoly
Summary: She didn't know what she'd expected from a woman who should be called a god. A fair fight? To stand a chance at actually winning? She knew what she didn't expect. She didn't expect to be flung ten years into the past. She didn't expect to be forced by impending death to regret most of her life. She didn't expect a second chance. (Status Pending)


She hadn't seen it coming.

Kaguya disappeared, folding space around her, in the same instance that Sasuke began to fall. Naruto shouted her name, shooting toward her almost too fast to follow, and before she knew _why_ a hand fell over her mouth. A dizzying sensation filled the kunoichi as the volcanic landscape began to distort, folding in around her and forcing out her breath.

The sensation was an odd one, like being suspended in a cold abyss. A creeping, seizing feeling spread all throughout her, stifling any attempts at struggling against the firm hold on her mouth before they could begin. But just as soon as comfort in the utter _emptiness_ began to become comforting, the hand spun her around and a mind numbingly powerful punch struck her in the gun.

Her wrist was yanked right after the punch, and she was flung upward. The abyss had shifted to greyish-black skies and decrepit buildings in the blink of an eye, and she smashed into the rocky ground with a painful crack, rolling for a fraction of a second before slowing to a stop.

The kunoichi groaned as she pulled herself with her trembling left arm, sitting back on her knees. Her headband slipped slowly from her forehead, a steady dripping and a strange throbbing behind her hazy eyes alerting her to the fact that she was bleeding. And, from the sound of it, quite a _lot_.

Her limbs felt much too heavy for her to do anything about it, though. She was certain that her limp right arm was broken, and her ears began to ring as she searched idly for the woman who had brought her here. When she didn't see her, the woman fell onto her back, a quiet thud the only evidence that it had happened.

She was already starting to grow numb, and her vision was becoming brighter by the second.

"Damn..." she whispered to no-one but herself. "I... really messed up this time, didn't I... Naruto?..."

He didn't answer, the way he normally would have. Reassuringly, like he always did. Bright eyes and a wide smile, a stupid, contagious grin spread over his face. What would he be doing if he were here right now, with her? Hugging her to comfort her, maybe? Or panicking, because of all the blood coming from her head? Perhaps both?

She remembered when she'd first met Naruto. It had been in the days before she'd entered the academy, when her mother had taken her to the park. He had sat alone, back then, swinging slowly, and the look of dejection was one she could relate to, and despite the whispers that the adults shared, she approached him to ask if he wanted to play. He was a sweet boy, gentle, but determined. He had dreams of becoming the Hokage.

After that day, she wasn't _allowed_ to play with him anymore.

Over the years, her parents and other adults warned her that there was something sinister about him, and that if she befriended him she was somehow putting everyone else in danger. She had grown to resent him, and during their time in the academy, she could very well have said _truthfully_ that she hated him. He was the antithesis of everything she saw as idealistic in a boy, being loud, rather rowdy, and strongly outspoken. Much to her discomfort, at the time, he didn't seem to mind that her forehead may have been a little too large.

As she lied on the rocky ground, though, looking up at the scarred sky as bluish lightning crackled silently, she realised how much she must have hurt him in those years, and maybe even now. All he'd ever done was try to help her, all he wanted was her happiness. He was always there for her, always comforting her, always _protecting_ her.

The sound of gravel crunching was strangely clear, and Sakura turned her head to the side, peering through long lashes as the robed woman, no longer hovering the way she'd done before, knelt by her. As the whitette brushed her hair from her face, the sound of the sapphire lightning crackling in the sky became audible again, and the pinkette was suddenly _alert_ , aware of the pain in her arm, gut, back and neck, and the tears dripping from her cheeks.

She winced when the woman tipped up her chin, a pair of stern, white eyes staring at her. Oddly reminiscent of those of the Hyūga. "Naruto..." the woman repeated. "He is just like my Hagoromo's child, Asura." She tightened her grip on Sakura's chin, her claw-like fingernails digging dangerously near to her pulse. "You seem to care for him... but, do you care enough to give your life to save his?"

Sakura felt her blood start to boil despite her tears, setting her jaw firmly. If she had the strength to spit in Kaguya's face, she would have done it.

"After all he's done..." she bit out, "I'd gladly die for him..."

"Good." The white haired woman replied, a black rod slipping from her sleeve. Without hesitation, she broke it and ran its jagged edge through Sakura's chest, twisting it slightly as she did so.

She could feel the rod as it slipped seamlessly through her back, but it didn't _hurt_. As soon as it entered her, the woman's body grew heavy. She could feel everything in that moment, as she fell limp. Her lungs filling with blood, that same blood pooling in her mouth and dripping from her lips. Her hands trembling slightly as the rocks beneath them dug into her flesh. Her breathing slowing to a halt. A second flood of hot tears spilling over and streaming down her cheeks.

Sakura thought that she would have panicked as soon as her breathing stopped, but she didn't. She was strangely calm as her eyes fell shut, as her body grew weightless. It was a feeling akin to being suspended above herself, but it only lasted a moment before the darkness she was shrouded in parted, revealing the sight of a familiar ceiling before a thud drew her focus.

She felt oddly light as she turned her head slowly from left to right, a gripping sensation stirring inside her as she realised where she was. Despite the bright, nearly lurid hues that decorated her surroundings, she recognised her own bedroom. She didn't believe it as she lied on the floor, though a part of her _desperately_ wanted to believe it. So, she took a moment to reach out with her chakra, to test whether this was a genjutsu.

It wasn't.

Slowly, the girl pulled herself up, her arms and legs much shorter than they should have been, and her hands much to pudgy to be her own. The first thing she did once she was sitting upright was tug her hair, only to find that it was, indeed, pink. Then, she tugged up the nightgown she wore to examine her chest, which bore no signs of being impaled.

Sakura scrambled up and onto the bed, unlatching the window and pushing it up, poking her head out. She was in Konoha, like she was with Kaguya, but this was her own. It was smaller than she remembered, and the distant sound of construction was familiar enough. It made her stomach turn, the thought that that _bitch_ would sink so low as to do this.

Rather than killing her, she wanted her to relive all her failures? For _what_?

Sitting back on her bed, she watched the sky as the full moon beamed tauntingly upon her, its silvery light a reminder of the woman who had sent her here. A part of her wanted to cry, to _scream_ , so that she could get some of the pain out of her system, but her better half knew that she couldn't be idle. Not again.

If she was going to have to relive her life, then she would make sure that she didn't let this world suffer the way that her own had. Then, maybe, she could find a way to return to her own world.

But until then, she knew that she needed to get stronger.

She hadn't been strong enough the first time, but she'd be _damned_ if she let herself become a disappointment again.


End file.
